The Established Business Relationship (EBR) provision of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the various state regulatory authorities creates both a challenge and an opportunity for telemarketers with advanced do not call software to gain a strategic advantage over their competition.

The EBR provision allows telemarketers to call certain consumers even if their telephone numbers are registered on the National Do Not Call Registry. Under the EBR exemption of the TSR and the TCPA, sellers and telemarketers may call consumers with whom the seller has an established business relationship, as long as the consumer has not asked to be on the seller's company-specific Do Not Call list.

There are two types of EBR's under the TSR. The first is commonly known as a ?transaction? and is based on a consumer's purchase, lease, or rental of the seller's goods or services or any financial transaction between the seller and the consumer within 18 months preceding a telemarketing call. The 18-month period begins on the date of the last payment, shipment, or transaction between the seller and the consumer. The second is commonly known as an ?inquiry? and is based an inquiry of a consumer or an application completed by the consumer regarding the seller's goods or services with the period beginning on the date the consumer made the inquiry or application and ends three months from that point in time.

Here's where it gets complicated - Although most states honor similar provisions for transactions and inquiries, some do not. In addition, the periods of time associated with the transaction and inquiry exemptions vary from state to state. Arkansas, for example, allows telemarketers a thirty-six (36) month window to solicit to consumers who have performed a transaction with the seller, while Oklahoma allows for twenty-four (24) months for both transactions and inquiries, while Indiana allows for no exemption other than calls regarding a transaction that is not yet completed. Because of the inconsistencies of the do not call info amongst regulatory agencies it is important for telemarketers to be sure that they understand the EBR do not call information and laws of both the federal and state agencies for where each call is to be received.

Advanced do not call software can store the federal and state do not call information, can automatically determine the length of time left before the consumer becomes unavailable to call, and can notify the telemarketer of the pending expiration of the EBR period. This ability to manage the entire do not call info database and to process EBR records free of error and with a fast and easy to use system gives telemarketers with access to this software a strategic advantage over their competition.